Many manufactured products occasionally have to be repaired. Thermal cameras, also referred to as thermographic cameras or thermal imaging cameras, can be useful to repair such products. By way of example, a thermal camera can form an image of a portion of a vehicle using infrared radiation, similar to the manner in which a camera forms an image using visible light. An operator can use an image output by a thermal camera to detect and visualize areas of heat, which may help the operator analyze an irregularity in the vehicle's operation.
Some thermal cameras include multiple gain states. For instance, a thermal camera can be configured to operate in either a high-gain state or a low-gain state. The high-gain state may provide a first, high accuracy and support a narrow intra-scene range of temperatures, whereas, the low-gain state may provide a second, lower accuracy but support a higher intra-scene range of temperatures.
As a particular example, in a high-gain state, a thermal camera may have an accuracy of ±5° C. and an intra-scene range of about −10° C. to 140° C., and in a low-gain state, the thermal camera may have an accuracy of ±10° C. and an intra-scene range of about −10° C. to 450° C. When the thermal camera operates in the high-gain state and a scene imaged by the thermal camera includes temperatures above 140° C., those temperatures may saturate sensors of the thermal camera. To view the temperatures above 140° C., the thermal camera can be switched to the low-gain state, so that the temperatures above 140° C. may be more accurately quantified and visualized.